A New York man is suing Apple over falsely advertising its Siri voice assistant, alleging that the company's ads convey a "misleading and deceptive message" about the iPhone 4S-only service.

The suit filed on Monday by Frank M. Fazio, who is seeking damages as an individual and on behalf of similarly vexed iPhone 4S users, claims that Siri is far less responsive and accurate than Apple's commercials depict, reports the Wall Street Journal

From the lawsuit filed in federal court in California:

Quote:

[I]n many of Apple’s television advertisements, individuals are shown using Siri to make appointments, find restaurants, and even learn the guitar chords to classic rock songs or how to tie a tie. In the commercials, all of these tasks are done with ease with the assistance of the iPhone 4S’s Siri feature, a represented functionality contrary to the actual operating results and performance of Siri.

Fazio claims that the real-world performance of Apple's voice-recognition service is spotty at best, and unusable at worst. He gives the example of using the virtual assistant as a navigational aid, saying that when asked for directions to a certain location, "Siri either did not understand what Plaintiff was asking, or, after a very long wait time, responded with the wrong answer.”

Going further, the law firm representing Fazio and the class, Robbins Geller, said that Siri is “at best, a work-in-progress.”

Although Apple failed to respond to questions regarding the suit, the company's website clearly notes that Siri is a beta product, meaning that it is not finalized and polished.

The suit also does not make mention of the fact that in its latest commercial focusing on Siri, Apple issues a disclaimer stating that the service's sequences were shortened for advertising purposes.

I don't have an iPhone 4S, so I haven't tried SIRI, but I do know one thing. I've seen some videos of people using SIRI, and some people have speech defects. SIRI is obviously not always going to understand some foreigner speaking with a laughable crappy accent, and other people who have never learned to speak properly. That is those people's problem. Go make an appointment with a speech therapist or something.

I'll be testing out the dictation feature on the iPAD this friday, and I expect it to work pretty good, since I don't speak like a retard.

Thank you for saying that. This seems ridiculous to me. Just the idea that he found an attorney so hungry for notoriety to file it.

Thats the problem, when you become the big dog on campus, everyone wants a bite. Throw enough crap at the wall something will stick. What I do not think these lawyers realize is that Apple seems to love litigation and will not roll over on a settlement like most business's do and they will be in for a lengthy expensive fight that they may lose and have to eatthe costs of. A few of those and the lawyers will put away the pitchforks.

So it's "“at best, a work-in-progress". Like most early versions of anything in this world. Assumed the lawyer would leave out such non-damning statements if they're looking to detail its awfulness into damages.

Though I think this guy is moron, does it say anywhere in the commercial Beta?

Even I forgot that it was Beta. I guess I was preoccupied with the plausibility that a high school teenager could find a guitar, learn a B minor 9th, get a band together, somehow afford two collectable pre CBS Fender amps, have two girlfriends at the same time and become a Rock God all in the span of 6 months since the release of Siri. I must have been doing something wrong back when I was in HS.

Well, the last time I tested out speech control on a Mac was about 10 years under OS 9, and even though I didn't find much use for it, it did understand me pretty good and I was opening and closing windows using speech, and doing other functions.

I would obviously assume that SIRI is way more advanced than what I tried back then.

Ironic that Fazio is suing. Rmember the SNL parodies of frivolous lawsuits? "At the law firm of Green & Fazio, we know that some of the most lucrative lawsuits are nuisance suits. You see, today's large corporations and wealthy individuals would rather settle out-of-court than deal with the headaches, the harassment, of endless emotionally draining litigation. And no one harasses defendents like Green & Fazio."

I sue Verizon, 'cause I get all depressed any time my cell phone is roaming.
I sue Colorado, 'cause you know, I think it looks a little bit too much Like Wyoming!
I sue Neiman Marcus, 'cause they put up their Christmas decorations way out of season.
I sue Ben Affleck ... aww, do I even need a reason?
I'll Sue Ya, "Weird Al" Yankovic

I'm allowed to make mistakes, because there's this one poster here called Flanuer or something like that, and he seriously claims that I am a paid shill and that I am fake because I write too perfectly and never make mistakes, according to him. Somebody with my kind of opinions would not be able to use proper grammar, according to him again. Who exactly I would be a paid shill for, I have no idea. Google? Samsung?

Though I think this guy is moron, does it say anywhere in the commercial Beta? I can not see it at work? Regardless, these lawsuits are getting insane.

I have mixed feelings about this. I hate these lawsuits so much, but....

Is it fair to release a product and use it as THE MAIN selling feature and have a disclaimer of BETA? I am often laughing at how badly SIRI misinterprets my "wishes". I also am sick of not having the full feature set because I live just north of the border. But, I don't know if a lawsuit is warranted.

I would hope that all Apple has to do to get this tossed out is demonstrate that each of queries they pose to Siri in the various commercials gives a reasonable response. If they can't do that--that is, if they just made up scenarios that don't work--then they should be held accountable. Having said that, I'm certain they can demonstrate that or else it would have been front-page news the day after the commercial first aired.

As to whether someone inferred that because it could send a text message based on "tell betty and veronica to come to the garage at 8:00" that it should be able to do any other wacky thing the user dreams up, that's not Apple's fault.

Beta normally means you don't advertise it as a primary selling point as well.

While I hate the fact that these things always end up with someone brining the lawyers in, he does have a point that the adverts are somewhat misleading.

I would guess that Siri understands what I've said maybe 50% of the time. For me it has proven absolutely unusable.

The difference between me and the plaintiff in this case is that I've put it down to me having an accent that I know is difficult for some people to understand, and have written it off as "one of those things".

As to whether someone inferred that because it could send a text message based on "tell betty and veronica to come to the garage at 8:00" that it should be able to do any other wacky thing the user dreams up, that's not Apple's fault.

The number of times my Garmin has told me to turn off an interstate in the absolute middle of nowhere when programed to go from Florida to New Hampshire makes me realize I may have missed an opportunity.

From Apple ][ - to new Mac Pro I've owned them all.Long on AAPL so biased"Google doesn't sell you anything, Google just sells you!"

Being from east Tennessee and having a pronounced southern appalachian accent, even I have about a 90% success rate with SIRI. I can guarantee that Apple didn't put a 'hillbilly' dialect in there, but it works very well for me. I have also found that more I use it, the more it is able to comprehend my strange vowel sounds.

If I find a product doesn't work as advertised I will try to contact the seller (Apple) and see if they can correct the problem by either showing me what I am doing wrong or ask for a refund. The last thing I would do is start a law suit, but then I'm not so stupid.

Being from east Tennessee and having a pronounced southern appalachian accent, even I have about a 90% success rate with SIRI. I can guarantee that Apple didn't put a 'hillbilly' dialect in there, but it works very well for me. I have also found that more I use it, the more it is able to comprehend my strange vowel sounds.

Oh, you said 'vowel sounds' I didn't have my glasses on and was worried for a minute ...

Wow that's my last name I really hope I'm not related to this guy. People must not be aware what the term Beta means. Wait.... I know Siri understands multiple languages but I'm pretty sure douchebagian isn't one of them anyway right? Or is that in 5.1 too?

This is a commonly misinterpreted statement. Shakespeare wasn't condemning lawyers. Rather, the speaker was planning to overthrow the government and suggested that the first step would be to kill the lawyers. That is, the lawyers were a key part of making society work properly.